Whqt os Hope for Honduras

The Background

• Janessa Baar, founder of Roatan Rescue, is from Grand Rapids and created the largest animal sanctuary in Roatan taking in cats, dogs, horses, chickens, even monkeys. 

• Michele’s Rescue first crossed paths with Roatan Rescue in 2019 when Michele’s friend tagged her in Janessa’s Facebook plea for help with one of the Roatan Rescue’s dogs, Bella. Bella was born with a deformed leg that needed medical care but there weren’t adequate options in Honduras. Michele agreed to take Bella into Michele’s Rescue, driving to Virginia to meet with Bionic Pets to get a prosthetic brace for Bella. Unfortunately, the brace failed and the leg needed amputation. After Bella was healed, Michele’s Rescue found her an adoptive family.  

• Flight Angels of Roatan was founded by another American living in Roatan, Angie Carlisle, to find homes for the hundreds of cats at Roatan Rescue. Janessa connected Michele with Angie early 2023 to help provide homes for cats in the US. 

• Janessa left the rescue last summer (July 2023), abandoning over 500 animals….dogs, cats and horses without adequate funds and resources to care for them. The animals were starving and needed immediate medical care. These animals wanted so badly to live and be loved by an adoptive family but instead were imprisoned, given up on and left to die.

o Angie from Flight Angels brought Michele’s rescue into the loop that Roatan Rescue was abandoned. Michele immediately reached out to multiple local rescues but no one could help as their hands were already full. Many local businesses she also contacted promised to help, but never came through. Michele then reached out to Cathy Bissel to help. 

o At the same time in July 2023, ‘Rescue the Rescue’ was formed by a group of 3 women…US Citizens Tanya Walter and Karen Collins and Canadian Renee Deighton to try to save these abandoned animals lives. These women had no experience taking on anything like this, nor did they realize that it would be a gigantic undertaking that would consume their lives for the next 10 months.  

o While the Rescue the Rescue team handled the day-to-day operations, disease recovery and logistics, Graziela Kaufman, a celebrity jewelry designer and Vice President of MCP rescue in Chicago, has been the primary donor enabling the animals to continue receiving food, medical care and transportation out of Honduras. 

o The team networked with international organizations for support, including the Bissell Foundation, Humane Society International, and many rescues in the United States including Michele’s Rescue, MCP Chicago and Big Dog Ranch among others.

• In December 2023, Michele and Theresa flew to Roatan to assess the situation. Originally the intent was to help find homes for 9 or 10 dogs, then it grew to 31 after seeing the inadequate shelter that Janessa built and the animals forced to survive in makeshift cages with protruding patchwork wires, dirt floors that couldn’t be sanitized, chewing on the wood posts in the enclosures as there were no toys, continual dog fights breaking out, the stench of excrement, and no running water or electricity. It was a pitiful shelter that provided inhumane living conditions.

• The hope was that our 31 dogs would arrive to the US the end of January, but there were many road bumps along the way working through US regulations and the CDC. 

• In preparation for the dog’s arrival, Michele’s Rescue purchased dog kennels, explored temporary housing, and reached out to the community seeking out new foster families as the rescue was already maxed out with current rescue animals. The rescue also needed to find transportation for 31 dogs (31!!) to bring them from their point of US entry to Michigan.

Finally…

• This Sunday 4/21, the dogs will be ending their captivity - flying in a Cargo Plane from Roatan to a CDC facility in Miami. During their 3 day quarantine in Miami, they will undergo health checks before their official release to become American citizens 😊. 

• Michele’s Rescue departed Michigan Friday 4/19 to drive down to Miami and is anticipated to arrive back in Michigan with the dogs and their newfound freedom next Friday 4/26.

• On Sunday, the abandoned shelter will be finally silent…

No dogs barking, pleading to be loved and comforted

No emaciated horses tied to trees longing to run free

No cats confined with hundreds of others in a small cage

• It took a tremendous team effort without borders….so many people worked together to save these animals and safely relocate them to US, Mexico, Canada and within Roatan.

• Rescue the Rescue organized the largest mass exodus of animals out of Honduras in its history. This tragedy, started by a woman who took advantage of the Roatan community and its animals, is finally over.  

So what’s next? 

• If all goes as planned, the dogs will be meeting their new Michigan families on Friday 4/26. Nearly half have been pre-adopted while the remaining dogs will be in foster homes until their forever families are found. 

• Michele’s rescue will need to fundraise heavily to not only replenish the $20,000 spent on the rescue effort to date (kennels, Titer Testing, flights, certified transport to help bring the dogs to Michigan, permit fees, etc), there will also be additional expenses including vet care and supplies that could push this up to $30,000.

• Foster parents are already brushing up on their doggie Spanish vocabulary to help in their transition 😊. The fosters have been prepared to receive dogs with likely broken spirits that will need a lot of compassion and patience as they learn what it is to be loved, played with, and be a cherished member of the family.